One Heart

Nathalie's POV

Fate had never really been anything I believe in, but this was certainly creating a good case for itself.

She looked no different from when I last saw her five years ago, still adopting the same ‘cocked head, confused eyes’ expression when she tried to figure out who I was. Compared to her last memory of me, I was a completely different person. Plus considering any exposed skin was currently cut and either coated in my own blood or dirt made me even more unrecognisable.

“I'm so sorry, my head has just been...I hit the brake but-” She clearly didn't recognise me, but there was certainly one person she definitely knew, and centred her gaze on him. “Brian? What are you doing here?” Her eyes shifted between the two of us. “Do you know her?”

He glanced down at me, not knowing how to reply. I knew that none of the guys had yet told the girls about me. “Just someone I met at the tattoo place.”

“You don’t have to cover for me Brian,” I murmured, shifting slightly to get as comfortable as I could. “Do you not recognise me Clo?”

Her brow furrowed from thought. “Am I meant to?”

“It’s been just over five years since we last met.” I smiled softly. “It’s ironic how the way I meet you again is the same way I first met Brian.”

“Nathalie?” She cautiously took a step closer, her eyes widening as she picked out the features she remembered. “Is it... But it can’t be you. Nathalie Taylor left me five years ago without even telling me. She would have called me to say she was home.” She shook her head in disbelief. “You aren’t the Nathalie I know.”

Sirens sounded in the background as an ambulance finally appeared on the scene, taking away any chance I had at replying as I was piled into the back of it on a stretcher. I could only look at Chloe as she watched it leave, staring at me through the small back window.

--

“She hates me now, doesn’t she?”

“Don’t be stupid, of course she doesn’t,” Brian replied, standing in the doorway of the room we were in as the doctor was in the process of stitching up my leg. “She was just shocked, that’s all.”

“All done,” the doctor said, finishing up and securing a bandage upon it. They had also done this to my other leg over the torn skin after I fell off the bike and scraped it across the asphalt. I almost looked like a half-finished Egyptian mummy. “Now take care to rest and try to take it easy over the next few weeks. This medication I am prescribing is to be taken twice a day while the painkillers can be taken a maximum of once every eight hours, and no more. You had a lucky escape today.” They left the room soon after, obviously needing to tend to other patients that required assistance.

“Perhaps I should help you,” Brian said as I swung my legs off the chair and dropped gently to the floor, wincing slightly as a dull pain flashed through the freshly stitched skin. “The doctor did say you shouldn’t be walking around much. Why don’t I see if I can find a wheelchair or something-“

“I’m not decrepit Brian,” I replied, gritting my teeth as I shifted slowly across the room to where he was waiting by the door. “I’m fine.”

“Why won’t you ever let me help you?” He asked, barely even moving so that he could keep up at my practically non-existent pace. “You’re so stubborn.”

“I don’t need your help.”

While that was what my mind was speaking what my body wanted was an entirely different matter; I was nearing the halfway stage of what length of life I was told to expect and it was beginning to finally drag me down. Each step I was taking seemed to take more and more effort, finally resulting in me stopping altogether outside the hospital for a rest.

Brian moved to stand in front of me, his arms crossed across his chest. “Are you sure you don’t need my help?”

With a renewed willpower I pushed past him and lowered myself onto one of the steps leading out into the parking lot, determined to prove I was fine on my own- even though I wasn’t. “You can get us a cab out of here.”

He sighed, but pulled out his cell anyway. “I think I’ll do something better.”

--

“You call this better?” I asked Brian, my eyes narrowing upon him from the backseat as we drove through the streets of Huntington. “And you wonder why I never accept your help.”

“Hey, give him a break Nat,” Zacky murmured, gently pulling the car to a stop as we hit a red light. “He’s only trying to help.”

“Well I didn’t ask for it,” I replied bitterly, not daring to move despite not wanting to do anything other than to just get away. “It’s not like he really wants to anyway, he’s just feeling bad because I called him out on missing Rae’s birthday.”

“That’s not his fault you know.”

“How can it not be? I told him when to come; Val and Jimmy made it so I don’t see what was so different.”

“I asked him to stay with me. I held him up; I’m sorry.”

Brian had turned to stare out of his window, purposely avoiding my gaze as I tried to look at him through the side mirror. “I don’t understand.”

“Chloe-”

“Zack.” Brian turned to his friend, shaking his head. “You don’t have to.”

“No, she deserves to know,” Zacky replied, taking a deep breath before continuing, “Chloe told me she had a miscarriage the day before.” I fell silent. My anger now seemed completely unjustified. Imagine having your friend leave you because they had a kid while you just lost one. “It’s my fault; I asked him to stay with me. Chloe hadn’t come home after leaving me after saying it and I didn’t want to be alone. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be Zacky,” I murmured, thankful that we had finally pulled outside my house just so I could escape the awkward silence that filtered into the car. “Thank you for the ride home.”

“It’s no problem,” he replied, “and Nat?” I stopped at the top of the stairs leading up to my house, looking back to see him standing behind his car. He looked nothing like his normally cheery self, looking almost... broken. “If you see Chloe, can you tell her I’ll be waiting for whenever she wants to come home?”

“Of course I will.” I turned from him to Brian, who was just standing on the other side, hands rammed in his pockets as he stared at the ground. “Brian?” He looked up at me. “Whenever you want to see Rae... the door is always open for you.”

--

No sooner had I collapsed onto my couch in the front room did I hear someone in the kitchen- it couldn’t have been Rae, since Alex told me that he and Sophie were taking Rae and Mickey to the zoo for the day so she wouldn’t be back until the night. I had to brace myself as I pushed myself back onto my feet, feeling the skin around my legs protest as I moved them much more than they wished for one day.

“Hello? Rae, Alex, is that you?” I called as I shuffled along the hallway to the kitchen, peering cautiously round the door armed with a long vase that still had the flowers in it that I picked up off the side. “Hello?”

“You were going to throw a flower vase at me?” Chloe sounded amused as she finished making her coffee, walking over to me and replacing the vase in my hand with a mug and taking the other for herself. “I’m hurt.”

“I thought you were a burglar.”

She raised an eyebrow at me. “What burglar can get past your security system?”

I shrugged. “One with their own key apparently. You got in alright.”

“I've always kept a key,” she replied casually, leaning against the side of the bar and thoughtfully blew on the steam forming from the coffee. “You know the police left me with a caution today. Said you specifically asked not to press charges. Although I did get a ticket.”

“I'm sorry to have gotten you a ticket,” I said sarcastically. After lifting onto the stool next to the breakfast bar I felt relief wash over my strained limbs. “Also I’m sorry about what happened.”

“About what? Why should you be sorry for me running you over?” She asked. It took a few moments, but she soon realised what I meant instead, responding with a quiet, “Oh. Zacky told you.”

“He said that whenever you want to go home, he’ll be waiting for you.”

She smiled. “I know he will be. But I can’t go back there.”

“Why not?”

“How could you have?” Her eyes began to fill with tears, soon rolling down her cheeks. “To see him after-“

“Please don’t cry Chloe,” I murmured, moving to her side and wrapping my arms around her, ignoring the pain raging through the stitches as they felt like they were going to rip open. “You can stay here for as long as you want, until you want to go back.”

“Thank you Nat,” she sniffed, a smile breaking through her tears. “I really should ask where my best friend has been these past five years before crying all over her.”

“Some things can be left for a while,” I replied. “I would rather make sure my friend is alright first.”

“I’m fine.” She pushed me away, dabbing at her eyes with the back of her hand. “I always am. Now tell me where you have been- and for fuck’s sake, sit back down!” Obviously she had seen the state I was in- well, she had seen it first hand- and as always, forced me to sit down as she fretted over the state of my health, just like any mother would. After I had done what she asked she turned to me. “So what have you been up to all this time?”

I laughed. “All this time I thought you would be mad at me for leaving.”

“I think after hitting you with a car, being mad at you seems a bit weird.”

“I swear you are one of the only people who could act like hitting their friend doesn’t bother them,” I chuckled. “You really haven’t changed.”

“Oh, but you’re wrong. Something does bother me.”

“And what’s that?”

“That you wouldn’t call yourself my ‘best friend’.” She walked to where I was sitting and roped me into one of her famous bear hugs. Man I had missed those. “BFFs, remember? Best friends forever.”